By Toby Sells - The Commercial Appeal -

Bioscience industries in Tennessee and the Memphis region beat national averages in 2008 and 2009, and the sector remains a "legitimate star" in national and local economies.

These findings were outlined last week to the Memphis Bioworks Business Association by Battelle, the nonprofit innovation advocate that originally identified Memphis' strengths in biosciences in a 2003 study.

"There are four main sectors of the bioscience economy, and the Memphis region grew in every one of those sectors (in 2008-2009)," said Simon Tripp, senior director of Battelle's Technology Practice.

"We found 1-in-4 new jobs in the region were bioscience-related jobs. Bioscience has been one of the legitimate stars of the economy."

The bioscience sectors include agricultural feedstock and chemicals, drug and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment and research, testing and medical laboratories.

Employment in Tennessee's bioscience industry grew 26 percent from 2001 to 2008, according to the study. In that time, the overall U.S. bioscience industry drew in 15.8 percent of new workers. Nearly 26,000 Tennesseans were directly employed in the industry in 2008, the study said.

Memphis has a high concentration of medical device companies like Medtronic, research institutions like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and drug companies like Accredo.

But Tripp and Battelle's study said Tennessee and Memphis have the highest concentration and growth in the agricultural feedstock and chemicals sector.

The sector focuses on the science, technology and planning of processing agricultural goods and the production of organic and agricultural chemicals, and makes products like ethanol from plants, fertilizers, food and feed additives.

Employment in the agriculture bioscience sector grew 116 percent -- more than doubled -- in Tennessee from 2001-2008. U.S. jobs in the sector grew at 1.9 percent in the same period, the study said.

"The natural assets we have here give us some captive markets for, mainly, agricultural products we can produce," said Pete Nelson, director the AgBioworks Regional Initiative, a program of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation.

"There's also a new interest in renewable ingredients," he said.

Nelson said his group and its partners will bolster growth in ag bioscience by uniting the infrastructure already in Memphis to grow, process, ship and sell products like fuels and oils made from crops.

The Battelle study said the bioscience trend could bend as shrinking government coffers could sap research funding and venture capital firms rope in investing.

Growth in academic research funding slowed to 3.4 percent in 2007, the study said, and has remained flat throughout the recession.

Biotechnology took the biggest hit in the fourth quarter of 2010 as venture capitalists funneled less money to fewer companies, according to a Friday report from PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Startup investments fell 7 percent to $5 billion in the October-December quarter, compared with $5.4 billion invested in the same quarter in 2009, according to the study. A total of 765 startups snagged funding, a drop of nearly 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009.

-- Toby Sells: 529-2742

Average 2008 pay for Tennessee bioscience industry

Agriculture: $88,153

Pharmaceutical: $65,846

Medical devices: $59,046

Research: $67,708

Source: Battelle